Wednesday, September 04, 2013

How dare you ask!

The response to the forced resignation (firing) of the water safety expert in the Ohio EPA, has left Ohioans wondering how many other decisions on our safety have been dictated by the campaign donors of Republican Gov. John Kasich.

After the letter from State Rep. Debbie Phillips was sent to the Governor's office asking questions about the dismissal of longtime state employee (not a political appointee), George Elmaraghy, a response was made by the Kasich administration.

Area state representative Debbie Phillips became a
subject of ridicule by the administration of Ohio Gov. John Kasich last week
after she sought an explanation for the allegedly forced resignation of the
state's top water-quality watchdog.

The blogosphere lit up over the weekend after a
Kasich spokesperson responded by volleying a personal attack against Phillips,
the Albany-based Democrat who currently serves as assistant minority leader in
the Ohio House.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find a job creator that she
hasn't opposed, vilified or protested at some point," Kasich spokesperson Rob
Nichols wrote of Phillips in an email to the Columbus
Dispatch. "If she had her way, we'd all be living on a collective farm
cooking organic quinoa over a dung fire. So I think we'll take her views in
context."

The response from Rob Nichols was harsh, inappropriate, and unprofessional. Was he attacking State Rep. Debbie Phillips because he felt that, as a woman, she had no right to ask these questions? Was Nichols saying that whatever King John Kasich says or does should not be questioned by the people in Ohio? Where is the transparency?

Ohioans have to realize that the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink is now being decided by Republican campaign donors.